Y-ADR Speed Mentoring - Virtual

Calling All Young* ADR Practitioners!

Join the Young Leaders in Alternative Dispute Resolution (Y-ADR) Steering Committee for a “Speed Mentoring” event via Zoom on

Thursday, March 6 at 9:00 am PST/12:00 pm EST/ 5:00 pm UK/ 6:00 pm CET.

This is a free event, open to CPR members and the public.

In this engaging and interactive mentoring and skills-building program consisting of 3 parts:

1) You will first hear from Kate Germano, seasoned executive coach and trainer at Fringe Professional Development, who will provide practical guidance and recommendations for developing the communication habits and skills necessary to build productive working relationships in the hybrid/remote world. 

2) Next, you will hear from several experienced mid- to senior-level ADR practitioners (in-house counsel, academics, private practitioners, and neutrals) who will share the practical professional and career advice they wish they had received when they were starting out their legal careers. See the list below.

3) You will have the opportunity to participate in a fast-paced and fun speed mentoring session with each experienced practitioner where you can ask them the candid questions you always wanted to have answered.

*Young is defined as 45 years old and younger, or those with less than 8 years of professional experience in international or domestic ADR practice or other areas of conflict prevention and resolution. Law students are also welcome to attend this event.

This program will feature the opportunity to connect with the following members of the Y-ADR Steering Committee who will serve as mentors during the speed mentoring sessions.

In-house counsel:

• Andrew Edelman (Lyondellbasell)
  Andrew Edelman manages a docket of complex litigation and claims, including commercial, personal injury, insurance, bankruptcy, condemnation, and tax disputes for LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics and chemicals companies in the world. He also serves as member of LyondellBasell’s Crisis Management Team.
• Jhale Ali (Visa)
  Jhale Ali is a commercial litigator with an expertise in antitrust and competition matters. In her current role as Senior Managing Counsel on Visa's Global Litigation & Competition team, she manages pre-litigation disputes and class-action litigation, and advises on competition matters, mergers and acquisitions, and tax controversies. Prior to joining Visa, Ms. Ali practiced general commercial litigation at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and worked at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice on criminal investigations and civil merger and acquisition reviews.
• Kate Gonzalez (Airbus Americas)
  Kate Gonzalez is Senior Legal Counsel at Airbus Americas. She also serves as Assistant Corporate Secretary to Airbus Americas. Kate works closely with the General Counsel of Airbus Americas to provide legal support to business functions, including sales, contracts, customer services, procurement and engineering, with a particular focus on corporate governance, M&A, restructuring, and commercial disputes. Kate is a dual qualified lawyer admitted to practise as an Avocat at the Paris Bar and as a Solicitor in England & Wales. Kate is also a member of the Virginia Bar (Corporate Counsel, Pt II). Prior to joining the Airbus group legal team in 2019, Kate specialized in dispute resolution and practised with law firms for over a decade in London and Paris. Kate is a fluent French speaker and holds a Masters in Business Law from the Paris Sorbonne University (France), a Masters in Arbitration from the University of Montpellier (France) and an LLB English Law with French Degree from the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom).
• Patrick Lawler (Syneos Health)
  Patrick Lawler serves as the executive director and managing counsel of employment law for Syneos Health. He is responsible for labor and employment law matters for numerous business units and subsidiaries in the US and across the globe. Syneos Health is a fully integrated, global biopharmaceutical solutions organization, and serves the clinical research and commercial needs of pharmaceutical and life science companies in the United States and abroad. Prior to moving in-house, Patrick practiced management-side employment law for large, international law firms.  Patrick earned his BA and JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
• Stephanie Davies (Raytheon Systems Limited)
  

  Stephanie Davies is the Head of Legal for Weapons and Advanced Products for Raytheon Systems Limited. Stephanie joined Raytheon in 2023. Stephanie is responsible for managing regulatory compliance, employment law, the implementation of policies and procedures and advising on litigation. Stephanie also operates as the UK company wide Legal SME for contract law providing specialist support to the Contracts and Supply Chain functions and global trade law providing specialist support to the Global Trade team.

  Before joining Raytheon, Stephanie was the Head of Legal and Compliance at General Dynamics UK and was a key member of the team who drafted and negotiated the £5.5bn AJAX contract with the UK Ministry of Defence. Stephanie in her earlier years at General Dynamics headed up the Trade Compliance team and has strong experience in both US and UK trade and anti-corruption compliance. 

  Stephanie has a wealth of experience delivering legal and compliance training both in-house and externally at legal and compliance conferences. Stephanie holds a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the University of Glamorgan and a bachelor’s degree in law and sociology from Cardiff University.

 Private Practice:

• Sara Little (Orrick)
  Sara is an associate based in Orrick's London and Paris offices. She was originally trained in the US and specializes in aviation, defense, energy & infrastructure and construction projects, both in commercial and investment arbitration. Sara represents clients across the United States, Europe and Asia and has experience handling disputes governed by French, Swiss, Iranian, and US (Maryland, New York, Washington, Illinois) law in most of the major arbitral forums, including the ICC, HKIAC, ICSID, and the Swiss Arbitration Centre. Before joining Orrick, Sara gained valuable experience working in the Emerging Companies department of another major international law firm in New York City. She also represented the City of New York in family court, prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases for two years.

 Independent neutrals:

• Tatevik Kechiyants (mediator)
  Tatevik Kechiyants, founder of TK Mediation, is a mediator and conflict resolution specialist with over a decade of legal expertise. Based in Los Angeles, she offers global mediation services in English, Armenian, and Russian, with working knowledge of French and Polish. Tatevik focuses on resolving family and commercial disputes, including partnerships, entertainment and business matters, shareholder conflicts, and divorces. Recognizing that many dynamics in business divorces mirror those in marital divorces, she brings a unique perspective to each case. Her experience spans both pre-litigation and litigated cases. She serves as a panel mediator for the CA Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District; US Bankruptcy Court; United Nations FAO; Southern California Family Mediation; and AAA Affiliate Mediators panel. Tatevik's professional engagements include leadership roles with the 2023 SCMA Annual Family Mediation Institute, the 2023 ABA DR Fellowship with the Membership Committee, the Divorce Transition Professionals, and the New Day Divorce programs. She holds a Master’s degree in Law and an ADR Certificate from USC Gould School of Law, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics from Yerevan State Linguistics University.
• Velislava Hristova (international arbitrator)
  

  Velislava Hristova holds dual qualifications as an Attorney-at-law in Bulgaria and a Solicitor in England and Wales. She specialises in investor-State arbitration, complex commercial disputes, and public international law. With over eight years of post-qualification experience, Velislava brings a wealth of experience, having worked with the international arbitration teams of leading US law firms in three of the major arbitration hubs in Europe – London, Vienna and Stockholm – and two of the largest law firms in Bulgaria. She participated in disputes across a range of industries under various institutional rules and involving parties from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Velislava holds an LL.M. in International Commercial Arbitration Law from Stockholm University (Sweden) and an LL.M. from the University of National and World Economy (Bulgaria). Velislava specialised in Arbitration and International Commercial Law at Pace University (US) and attended the Paris Arbitration Academy (France), the ICC Summer course in International Arbitration organised by the International Chamber of Commerce (France) and the Advanced course on ICSID Arbitration organised by the International Investment Law Centre Cologne (Germany).

  Velislava serves as a Vice-Chair of the International Arbitration Committee of the ABA’s International Law Section, Chair of Young Bulgarian Arbitration Practitioners, Senior Editor of the EFILA Blog, Peer Reviewer of the Journal of International Dispute Settlement and Founder of the Energy Related Arbitration Practitioners (Bulgaria). Velislava frequently publishes and speaks on international arbitration topics. In 2022, she won first place in the Young Practitioners and Scholars Essay Competition of the European Federation for Investment Law and Arbitration, and in 2023, she won the CPR Institute’s Outstanding Professional Short Article Award.

Register today for this unique opportunity! Use the "Register Now" button above. CPR members are asked to sign in to this website (see "login" above) and then register using the CPR Members ticket.

Stay tuned for in-person editions of Y-ADR's popular Speed Mentoring series:
London (Spring 2025) and New York (Fall 2025)!